Friday, April 13, 2012

We had been waiting for the ideal time to try this
drive-thru on the Westside, and this Friday night seemed as good as any.With some rented movies and a
comfortable couch awaiting us, we made the trek across the city together.We phoned in our order on the way.

Essentially, Trotta’s offers two completely different types
of pizza:Sicilian and Traditional.The Sicilian is a rectangular-shaped,
thick-crusted pizza with large, puffy edges.The Traditional is on the thinner side, and round.With these two different types of
pizza, all kinds of varieties are offered, including both specialty pies and an
impressive list of ingredients to build your own creation.And then, there is the Lotta
Trotta.By our estimates, this is
a gargantuan version of a Sicilian pizza, though we do not know its precise
dimensions; they are not listed on the drive-thru’s site.From pictures and confirmations from
friends, we understand that this menu item lives up to its name.However, we will have to wait until
next time to find out for sure.

On the left, Sicilian-style goetta pizza. On the right, a traditional style bacon spinach pizza.

On this night, we thought it best to order two completely
different pies.Variety is always
nice, plus we find it more suitable for blogging purposes.On an 18” Traditional crust, we
selected the Bacon Spinach pizza, which featured red onion, Roma tomatoes,
black pepper, garlic, provolone, and a ranch sauce in addition to those titular
key ingredients. Robyn noticed quite a bit of minced garlic on her leftover
slices the next day, which could be a make or break feature if you care about
how your breath smells throughout the next 24 hours after eating this pizza.
All of us agreed that this pizza was AWESOME.

We like it, a lotta.

The creamy ranch sauce was slightly tangy, and really
complimented the medley of ingredients atop the pizza.The toppings were incredibly
fresh.Leaves of fresh spinach
laid flat under the other, more bulky ingredients, thin slices of red onion
wove their way between the giant chunks of thick bacon, and the cheese
successfully brought (and kept) all of these pieces together.The crust had a buttery taste to it,
which, is always delicious.It was
firm to the touch and crispy on the outside but, once you took a bite,
incredibly soft and chewy on the inside.This was definitely our favorite.

To accompany the Bacon Spinach, we chose a one-topping Large
Sicilian.Our topping of
choice:goetta.That’s right, folks, Trotta’s offers
goetta in their exceptional list of pizza toppers. We knew this from the
initial Cincinnati Magazine blurb, and had always planned to take advantage of
its availability when the time came.We love goetta (in fact, Robyn was once dubbed The Goetta Princess), and had
only had it on pizza at the annual Goettafest extravaganza.None of us were sure of what would best compliment the goetta (maybe tomatoes?), so we made the
executive decision to leave it at that.We are sad to say that we were a little disappointed.

As aforementioned, the Sicilian pizza is much bulkier in the
crust.Combined with the strong
Italian, zesty flavor of Trotta’s pizza sauce, the goetta didn’t stand a chance.The goetta is crumbled on top of the
cheese.Normally the taste of
goetta is an independent one but, in this case, it was kind of lost in the
shuffle.We noticed that the edge
pieces of the pizza versus those cut from the center offered a different experience
to the eater.The edges, again,
are just so thick and doughy; in the middle, the taste of the goetta shone
through a bit more.Somehow we
found that this pizza grew better as we ate more.Leftovers heated up exceptionally well, and made it more
acceptable for one to want pizza for breakfast (goetta IS primarily a breakfast
food, after all).This wasn’t our
favorite, but we are glad that we gave it a shot.

In closing, we’d like to say a few words about the
drive-thru itself.Trotta’s is a
true drive-thru service, offering soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, and snacks
in addition to their fresh baked pizzas.We had heard that the service was exceptional, and those reviews were
correct.We were quickly in and
out, despite a line a few cars deep when we arrived.These people work hard and fast, and immediately offered to
stick our giant pizzas in the backseat.Thank goodness, too, as we had already discussed our fear of having a
pizza handed to us through the car window.We wish we had a Trotta’s in our neighborhood so we could
frequent this pony-keg establishment more often.Seriously, how awesome is the drive-thru concept?Having a get-together and need more
beer?Got a sleeping baby in the
backseat?Wearing hideous
sweatpants or pajamas?The pizza
drive-thru is your best friend.And we hope someday soon to meet up with it again, along with that
scrumptious Bacon Spinach pie.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Perhaps when Rivers Cuomo, of the band Weezer, lamented that
he wanted to “get back to the good life,” a tasty Italian experience is what he
yearned for, along with all that shakin’ booty and makin’ sweet love mentioned
in the song The Good Life. After all, what’s NOT to love about enjoying a
relaxing Saturday afternoon with friends over a delicious pizza or two? It is the good life, or “buona vita” in
Italian, that the Frommeyer brothers and their extended community of family and
guests seek, and they seem to be doing a great job fulfilling that mission here
in Dayton, Kentucky.

With its location just down the street from a dear friend’s
house, this restaurant has always been on a mental to-do list for Robyn. It seemed as if everyone BUT her had gotten a
chance to enjoy the food at Buona Vita at least once before, Courtney
included. Residing in an old bank
building in Dayton, KY, the restaurant offers a full menu of classic Italian
cuisine amidst a quaint, unique atmosphere.
It is a fantastic place to take a date or to catch up with an old
friend. We were seated in the spacious
booth called “The Vault,” which used to be the actual vault from the bank that
was formerly housed in the building. The
gorgeous door to the vault hangs open, giving other diners a peek into the cozy
and secluded little spot. It is our
understanding that many people make reservations specifically for the vault,
but as luck would have it, none had been made during our spontaneous
visit. So in we went!

Our view from the vault.

There were two special guests on this
visit-Matt and Bridget. It’s nice to
vary the routine from time to time, and we also relished the possibility of
trying more pizza than we would if it had been just the two of us. This also made the vault seating a little
more sensical – it would be a pretty large dining spot for just two
people. Four diners v. two does provide
some slight complications, such as ordering food that everyone agrees upon, and
splitting the leftovers and the bill fairly.
However, it was worth it to let Matt and Bridget gain the experience
that is Top This while spending some quality time with one another. We are sure that they agree :)

Matt and Bridget, basking in the honor of special guest-dom

Our waiter was patient with us as we negotiated our
selections. We ended up going with two
selections. The Calabrese is described
simply as extra hot pepperoni pizza and the other is a variation of the Pewee’s
Pizza Bianco. Believe it or not, we are
having trouble remembering its exact name and cannot find it anywhere
online. We know that it builds upon the
Bianco, which is a white pizza featuring oil, Italian spices, cheese, and
spinach. This particular pie adds
prosciutto and (we think) black olives to the mix. It was possibly called the Giuseppe, or the
Bianco Giuseppe, but we are not 100%.
Generally on our outings, one of us tries to write down the pizza name,
featured ingredients, and some quick, immediate notes. With our special guests there, we seemed to
forgo this busy work for good conversation; well, if we are honest, for
immature jokes and end-of-week venting.

As we waited for our pizza delivery, Courtney and Matt split
an appetizer of mozzarella filled breadsticks, “Little Joey’s Cheese Filled”,
which they really enjoyed. These were an
indulgent treat. We know that fried
bread and cheese is not good for you, but we don’t care because we like
it. It wasn’t long after they finished
these up that our cute tattooed waiter carried over two
piping-hot-out-of-the-stone-oven pizzas.

Bread. Cheese. Yummmm.

We first present you with a warning: The Calabrese is not for the faint of
heart. We just could not handle the
overpowering heat from the spicy pepperoni, as much as we tried. Robyn tried peeling the pepperoni and cheese
off the top in a last ditch effort to not waste any of the crust, but it just
wasn’t possible. The oil from the
pepperoni soaks through to every last bit, making every bite of the pizza
incredibly spicy. Courtney ate a bite,
took a drink, ate a bite, took a drink (repeat). It didn’t help. Matt and Bridget are built from a stronger
heat threshold, and enjoyed that pie a lot more than either of us did. This was good, because we would have felt bad
about wasting so much pizza. The thing
is, if it wasn’t so damn hot, we think it would have been really awesome. They were not loosely using the term “spicy”
on their menu. If you’re a fan of really
spicy food and can handle it, you will probably LOVE this pizza! All of the great pizza elements are there,
but if you can’t get your taste buds past the heat, that’s all you’ll be able
to focus on.

Hot hot heat.

The other pizza, the “Giuseppe”, we’ll say, was much more
enjoyable to both of us. The lightly
charred, crisp-bottom crust was nearly cracker thin and maintained a light
crunch under the fresh, tasty toppings.
The prosciutto was salty, as it should be, but not overwhelming (like
the Fratelli’s sausage). The cheese was
buttery and well spiced with Italian herbs, and the spinach was daintily placed
on top, cut into teensy tiny thin strips.
While Robyn typically prefers a doughier, thicker crust, she still
enjoyed this pizza. Courtney prefers
thin crust pizza, and this was thin on a new level. It’s so thin that it seems it would be easy
to burn to a crisp. Rather, Buona Vita
has perfected their cooking methods through an opulent heritage of food and
technique.

The pizza with the name we can't remember.

The pizza at Buona Vita is made with the “labor of love”;
the way all great pizzerias craft their wares.
They describe their rich family history, daily food preparations, and
ingredients in a brief narrative on the menu.
In short, the recipes, which originate from family in Italy, have been
handed down from multiple generations and made with great care in the
restaurant named after the Bonavita family.
A stone oven, reaching 600 degrees, cooks the made-to-order pizzas and
calzones to traditional perfection for the hungry crowds that gather in this
welcoming atmosphere. Though we didn’t
have any of their homemade cookies or desserts, we have heard great things
about them from friends and web reviews.
Next time, we’ll take advantage of these traditional Italian sweets
after taking pleasure in more of this crispy, flavorful thin crust pizza. But, you can bet your spicy-hot bottom dollar
that it won’t be the Calabrese.

About Me

We are on a mission to taste test the 50 best pizzas in Cincinnati, as determined by the November 2011 issue of Cincinnati Magazine. In doing so, we hope to expand on their reviews and offer up our own experiences at each pizza hot spot. By no means are we trained food critics, but we like pizza and we like writing, so this gives us the opportunity to enjoy both.